Can I keep crayfish and guppy fish together in a tank?

Question

I have an aquarium and keep peaceful fish together like:

• angelfish;
• guppy;
• shark;
• Hypostomus plecostomus.

These are pictures of my fish in aquarium:

My fish are living together peacefully, but I intend to buy a type of shrimp and keep it with my fish in one tank. A type of shrimp that attracted my attention and I love to have it with my fish:

My question: can I have a lobster with my fish? Would it be peaceful with my guppies? Please help me, how can I do it? Is it possible to keep them in one tank together? I love this lobster type.

I think they are dangerous for my fish, which is concerning.

Answer 1

There are many different types of aquarium crayfish, that have different levels of activity, aggression, size, and feeding habits, as well as different individual personalities, so its hard to say exactly if this would be ok or not.

As a general answer, I think you are correct in thinking they would be dangerous for your fish. Guppies are not great swimmers, and have long fins/tails that make them easier for other creatures to catch. It doesn't look like your tank has a lot of hiding places for them either, so that would likely cause a lot of stress and more risk from the crayfish.

Answer 2

As others have said, crayfish would be an inappropriate fish to keep with your current selection. As an alternative to crayfish you might want to look at giant fan shrimp (Atya gabonensis). They look almost identical except these have fans not claws at the front. They don't grow as big as crayfish and they are not predatory. In fact, they're more likely to be attacked by the fish than the other way around.

You'll want to avoid keeping them with anything too large or aggressive but they might be a good alternative to crayfish.